JESSE COOK

Client Biography

“I
want to take people to places they haven’t been,” Jesse Cook says. The Juno
winning Canadian guitarist, known for his masterful fusion of world music styles,
has traveled the globe looking for sounds that resonate with him. On his new
album, Beyond Borders, he continues
his journey, playing music without any cultural or geographical boundaries.

“I
like music that provides a common ground for different traditions, a space
where music from all historical eras and parts of the world can mingle,” Cook
explains. “On this album, and One World,
my last record, I began to realize that you can go anywhere on earth, without
moving. There are many borders in our lives. Some have been built by others, some
we create for ourselves, but whenever I ventured beyond the borders of my life,
I have been the better for it. In the past few years, we’ve been moving
backwards. I don’t want to focus on politics, but after the fall of the Berlin
wall, Europe united and people began thinking of themselves as global citizens.
The rising nationalism of today is exploiting our differences, not celebrating
them. Beauty, humanity, artistry, joy, wisdom, and of course love…these things
don’t stop at some line on a page. If music is the universal language, maybe
there is something it can teach us?”